713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

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fdm
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#101 Post by fdm » Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:47 am

"Trois places pour le 26"/"Three Tickets for the 26th" (1988)

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knives
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#102 Post by knives » Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:55 am

Thanks, though unfortunately it seems to not be one of the few not on Hulu.

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domino harvey
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#103 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jul 26, 2015 2:59 pm

Finally got around to my two unseen Demys in this box, and I enjoyed them in exactly the opposite direction I thought I would. Donkey Skin is just confusing coming after Rochefort, as there is no imagination in the blocking or musical numbers, the songs are awful, and other than some great costuming, there's nothing here to set it apart from any Saturday afternoon at your local public library. A genuine disappointment. However, I thought Une chambre en ville was a much better return to the modern operetta of Umbrellas (and I even may like it a bit more), with a nicely fatalistic ending befitting the melodrama of the stylistic inspiration, and as always it's nice to see Demy's familiar faces pop up

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jorencain
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#104 Post by jorencain » Sun Jul 26, 2015 5:16 pm

I'm completely in the same boat. "Donkey Skin" was one I wanted to see for a very long time, and it was my least favorite in the set, for the reasons you mentioned. Now that my expectations have been lowered, I should go back and give it another shot.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#105 Post by artfilmfan » Sun Jul 26, 2015 5:18 pm

domino harvey wrote: Donkey Skin is just confusing coming after Rochefort, as there is no imagination in the blocking or musical numbers, the songs are awful, and other than some great costuming, there's nothing here to set it apart from any Saturday afternoon at your local public library. A genuine disappointment.
I bought the French DVD years ago. Tried to watch it but could not get into it.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#106 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:20 pm

Which do you like less --Donkey Skin or Pied Piper? (though flawed and rather weird -- I think I prefer Pied Piper -- which looks pretty good on Hulu).

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knives
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#107 Post by knives » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:12 am

I agree with the consensus that Donkey Skin isn't on the level of the other musicals in the set, but even then I thought it was several breaths above Bay of Angels. At least DS has some decent use of colour, that music, and a generalized kookiness going for it. Bay of Angels struck me as a very anonymous work lamely playing to the idea of the new wave without providing any of Demy's strengths.

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tenia
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#108 Post by tenia » Mon Jul 27, 2015 1:54 am

domino harvey wrote:Donkey Skin is just confusing coming after Rochefort, as there is no imagination in the blocking or musical numbers, the songs are awful, and other than some great costuming, there's nothing here to set it apart from any Saturday afternoon at your local public library.
I watched it after watching Rochefort & Cherbourg, and god, was it WTF. I don't think the songs were awful, there's some earworms (like the baking song) but they're very cheesy. But then, there's all this incestuous stuff going on while green dwarves are running around under the rain, and other weird stuff like this.

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domino harvey
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#109 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:33 am

The King couldn't have been that great of a leader if it took him the whole length of the movie to remember the first rule of real estate
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A-B-Sey: Always Be-trothing Seyrig

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Murdoch
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#110 Post by Murdoch » Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:55 am

And here I am at the opposite end of the spectrum - Donkey Skin was the only Demy I liked, largely for the weirdness of its fairy tale and the
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non-sequitur helicopter at the end.
I don't think it would hold up very well on a rewatch but at the time it was a fun way to spend ~90 minutes.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#111 Post by tenia » Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:32 am

Oh, it was sure fun, but it was very weird and I certainly wasn't expecting something like this. I thought it would be more straight-forward rather than weirdly campy and at times anachronistic.

I haven't watched the whole set, but I liked a lot Rochefort. I didn't like so much Cherbourg : I think it's beautifully sad, but I didn't like at all the fact they were singing absolutely everything, and sometimes in a very dumb way, even "Paaaaassss meeeeeeee... THE SAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLT !!!!"

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#112 Post by artfilmfan » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:32 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:Which do you like less --Donkey Skin or Pied Piper? (though flawed and rather weird -- I think I prefer Pied Piper -- which looks pretty good on Hulu).
My exploration of Demy's work stopped at (or should I say "was stopped by") Donkey Skin (which I could not manage to finish watching). The disappointment convinced me that the reward of further exploration was not worth the cost and time spent.

I first saw Cherbourg (on the first U.S. DVD years ago) and loved it. I've seen it at least a dozen times over the years. I still love it and return to it from time to time.

Then I saw Lola (on the first U.S. DVD) and liked it very much. I've seen it at least half a dozen times over the years. I still like it very much and still return to it occasionally.

Then I saw Rocheford (on the first U.S. DVD). I liked it, but not as much as Lola or Cherbourg. I've seen it twice.

Then I bought the French DVD of Donkey Skin. I didnt' watch it right away. I waited until I thought was the right time to watch it. And when I finally watched it, I couldn't finish it.

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Minkin
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#113 Post by Minkin » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:11 pm

Sheesh, so much Donkey Skin hatred on this forum.

Its actually my favorite of all of Demy's films, so this consensus seems strange!

You guys do realize that the film is based off of a 17th century French fairytale? Sure, the incestuous element to the story is odd (certainly by modern standards), but I blame the French + fairytales in general being odd (and a story built around teaching people not to fall in love with their parents / children is of course going to be divisive). I suppose you could fault the fairytale for being far too similar to Cinderella (even though Donkeyskin predates the Grimms by over a century, but both are based off the Italian work), but the moral is certainly different!

As for the music - you guys didn't enjoy any of the songs? I suppose each to their own. What about Rêves secrets d'un prince et d'une princesse? Or the lovely Amour Amour (I do like the parrot). What about Les insultes? I mean, you can't go too wrong with Michel Legrand.

I find it to be Demy's best film since its the least restrained, most fun, and interesting of his work. Simple things like the Cocteau inspired designs or the constant surreal atmosphere (like Jean Marais' giant cat throne). I think the stranger elements work to the film's advantage here. I suppose you could argue that he's really hammering in the fantasy aspects, but I instead believe Demy is being more playful within this world (I couldn't fault him for being imaginative). Perhaps this is his most self-indulgent film, but that only works to the strengths of the fairytale.

If you compare this to his next fairytale inspired film - Pied Piper, you can see how depressing and unimaginative the latter film is (I still like it, but mostly for Donovan, Donald Pleasence and Jack Wild). Other than it "being weird," most of the faults brought up by you guys can just as equally apply to most of Demy's films.

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knives
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#114 Post by knives » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:41 pm

Honestly I find it not weird enough. It's awfully mundane for, as you say, it being a musical adaptation of a French fairy tale. Occasionally that lived in nonchalant quality works really well (that's honestly the only way to pull off that very silly ending for instance), but it also doesn't make for a very exciting place to be almost the opposite of A Room in Town which I found to be a truly lovely film despite the deep surface level stuff.

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Murdoch
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#115 Post by Murdoch » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:51 pm

Well I for one thought it's weirdness was an attribute, not a detriment. The songs I found forgettable but the set design and costumes were lovely. And who couldn't enjoy such a delightfully strange image as this concoction?

Image

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Dylan
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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#116 Post by Dylan » Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:55 pm

As for the music - you guys didn't enjoy any of the songs? I suppose each to their own. What about Rêves secrets d'un prince et d'une princesse? Or the lovely Amour Amour (I do like the parrot). What about Les insultes? I mean, you can't go too wrong with Michel Legrand.
I love the songs and score for Donkey Skin, and the music was certainly the best part about the film (which I like, but don't love). I'm surprised many here who have praised Cherbourg and Rochefort for their songs and score didn't find the music in Donkey Skin to be to their liking, as it's as unmistakably prime Michel Legrand to my ears (which means - at least in my opinion - that it's better than most music out there), though I would agree that the music is not as extraordinary or memorable as Cherbourg.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#117 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:15 pm

Watched Lola (finally). Loved Lola. Really not a single thing I didn't like about the film. Not having any visual comparison point (perhaps luckily), the Criterion looked fine to me.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#118 Post by artfilmfan » Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:32 am

I'm glad you loved Lola, Michael. Now that you've seen Lola, it's a good idea to revisit Cherbourg. Both are great films on their own. Viewed together, they are even greater. And I love the fact that Lola was made in black and white and Cherbourg in colors.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#119 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:57 am

Liked Cherbourg -- but loved Rochefort even more.

I assume Lola was shot in Nantes -- but looking at photos of Nantes, my wife and I couldn't figure out where some of the steep-ish streets/alleys might have been -- in photos, Nantes looks _really_ flat.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#120 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:26 am

Michael You might like to check out Agnes Varda's Agnes de-ci de-la which looks at the shooting of Lola as well as taking in a visit chez Chris Marker and a charming little interlude with Manoel de Oliveira

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#121 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:32 am

Michael Kerpan wrote:Liked Cherbourg -- but loved Rochefort even more.
Rochefort's easily the better film to me too, but I assume Cherbourg was recommended to you above because it's a sequel to Lola, which is not necessary to recognize if you hadn't seen Lola first but it offers a nice little bonus level of enjoyment to you now

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#122 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:50 am

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Michael You might like to check out Agnes Varda's Agnes de-ci de-la which looks at the shooting of Lola as well as taking in a visit chez Chris Marker and a charming little interlude with Manoel de Oliveira
Thought Agnes (from here to there) Varda was lots of fun, I remember the Marker and de Oliveira bits -- and the section on boat jousting (and the local people involved with this). I have less memory of the Lola part....

Domino: Only link between the two films is Roland, right? No young Cecilie grown a little older...

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#123 Post by artfilmfan » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:28 pm

Domino' assumption is correct.

The scenes at the train station (as the train pulls away) and the gas station at the end (as the camera pulls away) in Cherbourg always make me feel lumpy throat.

And I love Lola looking a little rough and unpolished (and in black and white) and Cherbourg looking more polished and in colors which make them go very well with the stories.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#124 Post by jindianajonz » Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:17 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:Domino: Only link between the two films is Roland, right? No young Cecilie grown a little older...
Didn't Rochefort reference Lola as well, with the character who
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is arrested for murder? It's been a while since I've watched the Demy films, but for some reason I recall the victim being a character from Lola, or perhaps even Lola herself.

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Re: 713-719 The Essential Jacques Demy

#125 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:42 pm

I can't say I recall that link between Lola and Demoiselles, but possibly I missed it.

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